Why tax law guidelines are delayed — Taiwo Oyedele
Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the presidential tax reform committee, says uncertainty over the final gazetted version of Nigeria’s new tax laws has delayed the issuance of implementation guidelines.
Oyedele spoke on Wednesday in Lagos at the 2026 Economic Outlook organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
He said he had advised the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) to hold off on releasing guidelines, stressing that implementation rules cannot be issued until the final official version of the laws is confirmed.
“Our plan in an ideal world was for all these regulations, guidelines, public notices to be ready like three months before December because we wanted people to give their feedback, debate it, finalise and gazette,” Oyedele said.
“Well, in our real world, it did not happen like that. And as I speak to you today, we have more than 40 regulations, guidelines and public notices that have been finalised.
“But we can’t release a single one of them because we’re still waiting for what is the final version of the gazette, because the Acts Authentication Act says whatever the government printer publishes is the evidence of the law that was passed.”
Oyedele explained that although the government printer had published a gazette that was circulated as the official version, lawmakers later disputed it, insisting “it is not what they passed”.
He said legislators subsequently agreed to produce their own version.
“They set up their committee, did their own review, (and) they did their own gazettes. They sent me a soft copy. But that’s not what the Acts Authentication Act says. So I sent my staff, go to the government printer and buy,” he said.
“They went there. As of last week, they said it’s not ready, that they should wait. So I also told everybody — the NRS and JRB — to wait, because we can’t issue guidelines when we are not 100 percent certain that this is the final official position.
“I called my staff this morning, I said go back there, follow up every day. Go there, don’t call them, go and sit down there.”
Oyedele added that he later received information that after the copies were printed, the government printer handed them over to the national assembly following a directive that they should not be sold to the public pending a review.
While he described the move as “a good move,” he said it has also created uncertainty.
The tax expert noted that although there have been claims that the tax laws were altered, the changes are minimal.
According to him, the adjustments affect only a few items and do not touch “the main thing that people need to know”.
“There is nothing about the tax rate, the tax body, and the filing deadline,” Oyedele said.
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